Closed Mold Alliance formed

Composites One, Magnum Venus Plastech, RTM North and FormaShape have joined forces to create the alliance, which will help customers develop, implement and operate closed mold composites processing systems.

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Major materials distributor Composites One (Arlington Heights, Ill.) announced on Oct. 15 that, together with several industry leaders, it has formed the Closed Mold Alliance to serve the composites industry by providing composites manufacturers a complete closed molding solution. The Alliance will offer introductory and practical education in closed molding and will have the resources to provide, materials, tooling and other equipment as well as implementation assistance and consultation. The company believes the new effort will impact the future development of closed mold applications, encouraging more composites manu-facturers to make the decision to convert from open molding.

The alliance, initially, will offer manufacturers its education and expert consultation. Subsequently, consultees will have access to customized tooling (engineered, produced and used with project-specific materials and equipment) along with in-house start-up assistance and training. A series of closed mold-related educational programs are being developed for the group’s Closed Mold University, which will provide practical, hands-on training. The American Com-posites Manufacturers Assn. (ACMA) is developing a Closed Mold Certification program intended to complement that of the Closed Mold University.

“By creating the Alliance, we can offer composites manufacturers the complete package of training, tooling, materials and equipment to meet the needs creat-ed by technological developments and environmental concerns,” says Leon Garoufalis, Composites One president and chief operations officer.